VOCALOID Neru & Friends
by Saesestrius
Summary: Neru Akita and her cousins Kiku Juon and Miku Hatsune are students at Boukaroido Koutou. How will they develop and grow, and what friends will they meet along the way? Fail summary is fail.  Rated K at the moment, but could change at any time.
1. Watashi wa Akita Neru desu!

A/N: Yup, I've been wanting to do a Vocaloid fanfic in forever! This one features a whole bunch of characters. I haven't decided the plot or anything, since I wanted it to be free, so I can't say just what is going to happen. It's going to be an ongoing fanfic, so yes it could end up being pretty long. ^^

Hope you enjoy! Rate and review please :3

**Chapter One**

**Watashi wa Akita Neru desu!**

_Dear Mum,_

_This is the last time I'll be able to write to you until the holidays come again. A lot has happened since I last wrote, and I do apologise for not writing in a long time._

_A couple of months ago, if you'll remember, I told you that Miku wanted to go and audition Boukaroido Koutou; the really posh boarding school dedicated to performing. She's been nagging Kiku and I to go with her, and eventually we both caved. The audition was last month, and we all went; I dragged along Yowane-san as well {do you remember her? She's been my best friend since elementary school; the one with really long gray hair, always tied in a ponytail with a ridiculously big black ribbon.}. After all, the more the merrier, right? So Miku auditioned, and she was great, but then the teachers turned to us three and asked if we were going to audition too! Kiku and I thought it was hilarious, so after a bit of convincing, the three of us all auditioned too. I'm telling you, the looks on their faces was great!_

_And then came the shocker. A week after that audition, every single one of us got a letter of acceptance. I mean, Kiku, Yowane-san and I didn't even want to go! Miku was thrilled, of course, and the only good thing is that at least we'll all be together. Sort of._

_I don't know what it'll be like, since I barely looked at the brochure Miku had and now she refuses to lend it to me, saying she wants it to be a surprise. Ugh. _

_I do feel bad for Kiku – she'd only just started settling in to her school last year, and now she's got to move again. Hopefully with Miku and I around, she'll be happier here though, so maybe it's not all bad._

_Anyway, I'm leaving tomorrow. Wish me much luck Mama, because I'll be wishing you the same._

_Much love,_

_Neru~_

I finished writing the letter, and sank back onto my pillows, reading it through quickly and checking for any mistakes. After finding none, I enveloped it and addressed it, ready to post tomorrow morning.

I'm pretty sure that my cousins must be asleep now; after all, it is almost one in the morning. But strangely, I don't feel tired at all – and trust me, that is very weird. I laid there for a few minutes, before getting up and deciding to check through my suitcases to make sure that I'd packed everything.

I rifled through, checking. Since it was boarding school, we each had to take a whole load of stuff. In my first suitcase, I had packed all my technical items; an alarm clock, my camera and laptop, a flashlight {that was Miku's brother Mikuo's suggestion}, a hairdryer, my iPod docking station, my iPod and a couple of sets of earphones, and all the plugs and chargers to go with my laptop, phone and music player. I'd also been told by Miku to pack a few spare hangers, and I'd managed to fit in all my stationary; namely just a few notebooks, pens, pencils, scissors, erasers, my bag, some folders, rulers, and a stapler with staples. I'd finished off the suitcase with just some of the things I liked; a few DVDs, books, and some framed photos. My second suitcase was completely dedicated to clothing; all of my uniform {which took up a fair amount of space, since I had around half a dozen sets of winter and summer uniform, and then a couple of sets of physical education uniform}, some t-shirts and tops of different sleeve lengths, some jeans and trousers, skirts, cardigans and sweaters, all of my underwear and hosiery, plus a few extras {suggested by Kiku} such as tank tops, gloves, scarves and coats. Miku had also suggested that I pack some nice clothes, so I had done that too. I had bagged up as many pairs of shoes as possible, since I didn't want them to get my clothes dirty. I'd also had to pack bedding and things like that, so I'd put in a couple of towels, a blanket, a few pillows and a duvet, some sheets, pillow cases and duvet covers, as well as my bathrobe. Squished in and also bagged up, I'd put in my toiletries; some plasters, all my make-up, jewelry, hair accessories and cosmetics all contained in their own separate bags, some deodorant and body spray, my comb and hairbrush, toothbrush and toothpaste, and of course my body wash, shampoo and conditioner. God, I never expected that I'd have to pack this much stuff.

I sighed and sat back, pretty sure that I'd packed everything. Miku, being the strange motherly girl that she was, had packed a sewing kit and some laundry stuff, and promised to help Kiku and I out by assisting us in washing and mending our clothes. Yeah, she's weird, but when you've lived with her for six years, you get used to it.

Checking through my suitcases had left me pretty tired, and it was almost two in the morning, so I decided to try and get some rest. After all, we would be leaving pretty early, and I'm not a morning person usually anyway. Thankfully, Mikuo was going to drive us there, and we'd have a couple of hours to sleep on the way, although we were picking up Haku too.

I felt bad for Haku too. She'd been really worried about joining a new school, since she's pretty quiet and blends in with the scenery sometimes. I'm sure she'll be okay, and make plenty of new friends. I hope.

_Okay, come on Neru. You have to sleep. Stop thinking about what it'll be like and how everyone else is feeling, and just go to sleep. There's no use worrying about Kiku and Haku; it's up to them to have a good time there. Come on… go to sleep now. Just go… to sleep._


	2. Memories with a Dose of Miku

**Chapter Two**

**Memories with a Dose of Miku**

I was woken up by Mikuo, gently shaking me and telling me to get up. I grumbled and tried to roll over, but instead was greeted by someone jumping on me and squealing very loudly in my ear.

Ugh. Miku.

'Alright, alright,' I grumbled, 'I'm getting up. Get off me Miku!'

She complied, and stood there grinning at me, 'sorry Neru! I'm just so exci~ted!"

She rushed out of my room, dragging Mikuo with her who gave me a grim smile and shut the door. I heard another squeal and a loud yell as Miku {probably} jumped on Kiku.

I got up, still tired from the very late night I'd had, and trudged into the shower. I was practically falling asleep in the shower, so I tried to make it a quick one so that I wouldn't drown or something. Once I was out, I dressed in a pair of dark skinny jeans and a plain white tank top, pulling my comfy yellow hoodie over my head and leaving my hair to just dry on its' own. Yup, you can totally tell that I don't care what people think of me.

After brushing my teeth and all that rubbish later, I went downstairs and after eating the breakfast that Mikuo had prepared, and grabbing my suitcases, we left the house and piled into his car.

I was asleep in seconds.

_I looked at my mum, passed out on the couch and surrounded by a few empty bottles, the smell of alcohol filling the air. I had tried waking her up several times, but to no avail, and yet my cousins were coming over in less than half an hour. I couldn't let them in with my deadbeat mother laid out and stinking up our living room. _

_The doorbell rang, and my heart practically stopped. I wandered to the door and shyly opened it, seeing Mikuo, Miku and Kiku standing there._

'_Um… come in,' I murmured. Miku was as bubbily as ever, rambling on to Kiku about something, but Mikuo looked annoyed. He must have been around twenty-two at the time, or something like that, and he pushed past me and went straight into the living room. He came out for just a moment, telling Miku and Kiku to stay in the hallway, and beckoning to me to come with him._

'_No change I see then,' he said critically, looking down at her lying there, out of it._

'_Not really,' I replied slowly._

'_Neru, I've had enough of this, 'you can't stay here with her; she's hardly a mother. She doesn't look after anything. You're too young to look after the house on your own and have to cope with her. Neru… why don't you come and stay with Miku, Kiku and I?'_

I was glad I said yes. Although my mother was upset to lose me, she agreed that it was for the best. She was in and out of rehab whilst she tried to build a life for herself.

But living with Mikuo was so much better. He looked after the three of us, so I had much less of a responsibility. Sometimes, it was hard to believe that Mikuo was still one of my cousins, just much older.

Kiku was a lot like me. She'd been orphaned when she was around four, I think, so Mikuo took her in. She's got the same sarcastic humour that I've got, which I guess she just picked up from me. She's obviously worse than me – at least my mum is still alive. She always has trouble settling in to new places, so obviously her transition into high school was difficult. However, now us three are together, she should be much happier. Of course, she'd be happiest if we all ended up in the same class, but Miku, Mikuo and I agreed that we should push her more towards mixing with the other students.

Somebody was poking me in the side. I opened my eyes lazily to see Miku's eager face just inches from my own.

'Get out my face,' I grumbled, before closing my eyes again, 'why'd you wake me?'

'We're nearly here!' Miku said eagerly, poking me again. I heard Haku sigh from the front seat. When I glanced over, I could see that Kiku was sleeping too.

'But we aren't there _yet_,' I said, 'so you could have left me sleeping.'

'Oh plea~se Neru,' Miku whimpered, 'I wanted us all to see it at the same time.'

I frowned at her. She's so weird. Oh well, I guess there isn't really any point in going back to sleep. I shove Kiku in the side and growl at her to wake up, before checking my cell and casually leaning forward.

'How much further is it Mikuo?' I asked. It's not that I didn't believe Miku, but she was a tendency to overexaggerate when she's excited.

'Hmm, well it should be right around this corner and just down a side turning,' he said, 'it's gonna be strange at home without you guys.'

I swallowed. I wouldn't admit it, but I felt bad leaving Mikuo whilst the three of us went off together.

'Oh Mikuo~,' Miku sang, 'don't feel lonely! I'll call you all the time, I promise! Hey, you should get a girlfriend to keep you company!'

Mikuo laughed, and I smiled evilly, 'or maybe you could get a boyfriend! I'm sure that'd be pretty great company too!'

Mikuo instantly stopped laughing, and I laughed. I could see Kiku in silent hysterics, and Haku was holding back giggles. Miku on the other hand just looked very confused, and I didn't have the heart to explain to her that I just implied that her brother was gay.

'Do you want to walk, Neru?' he mumbled.

I laughed. I'd touched a nerve, but oh well. 'No, cause if you kick me out you'll try and pick up a guy to fill my space.'

Kiku was now howling with laughter, and Haku had failed to hold in her giggling. The three of us laughed like hyenas, and yet Miku was somehow _still_ confused. I mean come on, Kiku is two years younger than her and she got the joke!

We'd turned the corner by this time, and Mikuo swerved off to lead us down the turning that would finally reveal the school.

'You'd better behave here Neru, I don't want you being sent home again,' Mikuo warned.

Yeah, whatever.


	3. Boukaroido Koutou

**Chapter Three**

**Boukaroido Koutou**

When I saw it, I was surprised. It was huge, and beautiful. You could see what were obviously the block of classrooms, as it looked like any other Japanese high school. Then there were a few blocks of what looked like large houses clustered off to the side; I guessed that these were the dorms. A little way off from the block of classrooms was a large cafeteria, which had been done in a traditional Japanese style. They'd even put a lot of tables outside, with a large pagoda roof to shield from the sun. And then there were the fields, stretching all the way around, and a little way out was a large gymnasium. I was seriously surprised that it had been done so well, since I'd never seen the place before. Of course, there were cherry blossom and maple trees dotted all over the place, just to add to the beautiful scenery.

'Don't you love it?' Miku squealed, shaking my arm.

'It's okay, I guess,' I responded, and Kiku gave me a sly look.

Miku slapped my head, 'I know you love it Neru! Don't think that you can lie to me~!"

After driving around for a little bit, with Miku badgering me the entire time, Mikuo finally decided to park right next to the dorms.

'You could've done that like, ten minutes ago,' I snapped at him.

Mikuo turned around and smirked at me, 'well, I needed to get you back before you left.'

He got out the car, leaving me to seethe silently. I got out after Miku and Kiku, helping Haku. I turned, just about to ask where to go, when I saw a big sign stuck to one of the houses that read 'All new students here!' I lifted the paper, just to see the name of the house. 'Kaede Dorms', how original.

As we were all trying to heave our suitcases from the boot of the car, Mikuo suddenly stopped us, 'I just had a great idea. Instead of trying to move all four of you in at once, why don't we just all pitch and help each other and move in one at a time?'

He glanced at us for confirmation; I just shrugged.

'How about Haku first?' he asked, and she blushed, 'since you are our guest after all.'

I couldn't see any fault of that, so together the four of us heaved her suitcases out and led them into the building. There were several cars around us, with other kids also getting their suitcases out. Miku had told me that only the new students came in today, to move in and meet their roommates. We got inside, and looked around quickly. There was a lounge and a small kitchen area, and a few bathrooms, but we didn't stop as Mikuo quickly led us up the stairs. Just diagonally left of us was a room, with several names stuck on the wall; Haku Yowane was one of them. The room directly in front of us had my name pinned on it, and I swallowed my nerves, tugging Haku's suitcases to her room.

'You can leave me here guys,' she mumbled, and I gave her a reassuring pat on the back, 'my room's just there,' I said to her, pointing to where I'd seen my name, 'so if anything's up, just come see me, okay?'

She nodded, and I smiled at her and followed Mikuo and my cousins downstairs. We quickly discovered that Miku and Kiku were sharing a room with another girl, so after a couple of trips to get all their stuff up, they said bye to Mikuo and went in.

'Why'd you leave me till last?' I asked as I heaved my suitcases up the stairs.

'Cause it's extra payback,' he laughed, pulling up the other suitcase with ease. It didn't help that my suitcase was nearly as big as me, since I was only just over four feet tall.

'Just you wait Mikuo,' I huffed, 'I'll get you back for this someday.'

We reached the top of the stairs, and I gulped. I said bye to Mikuo, who had to get back for work, and then glanced at the other names next to mine. _Utane Uta and Macne_ _Nana; _they weren't names that I recognised. I took a deep breath and knocked, before opening the door.

It seemed like I was the last to arrive. The two girls had been talking, but stopped when they saw me. The pair of them jumped up and said hello in unison, one of them practically bouncing on the spot.

Great, another Miku.

The one to my left stepped forwards. She had short purple hair that matched her purple eyes, and was wearing a cute black beret. She was wearing a cute white sweater and a black and purple skirt with a pair of plain black cowboy boots. "Hi~! My name is Utane Uta, but you can call me Defoko!"

What the hell? That's longer than her first name…

"Or you can call me Uta if you like!" she giggled, and then looked at the other girl, who was still smiling broadly.

The girl had long green hair to her thighs, with one very thick pigtail on her right side of her head, and enormous deep green eyes. She had enormous breasts {yeah, can't help but notice when you're flat as a board} and was wearing a plain white dress and long white boots, and also a black beret {strange, are they like part of the beret club or something?}.

"Hi~~~!" she said in a very high voice, even higher than Miku's, "I'm Macne Nana, but just call me Nana. Hehe~! You must be Akita-san~!"

Oh god, she was worse than Miku with the overexaggeratedness.

"Yeah," I smiled, "but just call me Neru."

"Okay~!" Nana grinned, "we'll help with your cases, right Uta-chan?"

"Yup!" Uta grinned, and the pair of them turned and helped my pull my suitcases into the room. I stopped and looked around. It was a light airy space with a nice big window looking out onto the paved area just outside with the large maple and cherry blossom trees entertwining each other. The room itself was a warm shade of cream, with a wooden floor. I stood by the window, and then turned around. The room was L-shaped, and to the right of me was a single bed against the wall, a built in wardrobe, and a small bedside cabinet. There was the same setup on my right, except there were two beds, two wardrobes and two cabinets. There were a few beanbags and bookshelves, and desk by the window. Opposite me were two rooms; one was a shower room and one just a bathroom.

"It's great right?" I heard Nana's voice from behind me, "yeah, it's pretty nice." I turned around, "how come you guys haven't picked beds."

They glanced at each other, and Uta spoke up, "um, we didn't think it would be right to pick until the three of us were all here, right Nana-chan?"

"Yeah," Nana said, "but how are we going to decide?"

I looked at the beds, "well, I don't really care which one you give me."

Nana hummed for a moment, "well, I don't really like sleeping by the door, so would it be okay if I took this bed?" she gestured to the bed opposite the bathroom and shower room.

"That's fine with me!" Uta said brightly, "what do you think, Neru-chan?"

I shrugged, "sure, if that's what you want."

Nana smiled brightly, and pulled her green suitcases over to her bed. I turned to Uta, "so which one do you want?"

"Oh, I really don't mind. If you don't want to sleep by the door, I'll sleep there," Uta smiled.

Wow, that's nice of her, "okay," I smiled, "thanks, Uta-chan."

"Hey guys, look!"

We both turned to the sound of Nana's voice, who was halfway inside the wardrobe, before suddenly pulling out with a big board, "I found this in my wardrobe! It's a pin board, so I guess we're supposed to slot it on that," she gestured at a few pieces of oval shaped wood sticking out of the wall opposite the desk.

"Probably," I replied, "why don't you go ahead and put it up there? We could customize it tonight."

I started putting all my things away. The wardrobe was great; it was huge and came with a ton of hangers, and built into the back of it were drawers. There were even a few little compartments to the side which I guessed were for towels and things like that. I put my clothes away, pushing all my normal clothes to the right and my uniform to the left. I was just beginning to unload my underwear and hosiery into the drawers when there was a loud thud near the door. I turned to see Uta picking up what must have been mail that came through our small letterbox.

"What is it?" Nana asked, coming over, and I too walked over to where Uta was.

"I'm not too sure," she replied, "a starter pack for each of us. We could look at that together after we've all put everything away." She handed us each a starter pack, which I left on my bedside cabinet and resumed putting all my shoes and things away. It took a while to put all my toiletries and such in the shower, and make up my bed, but eventually it was done. I even packed my bag ready for school, which was starting tomorrow.

Uta was last to finish, but when she was we all sat in the beanbags with our packs. I skim read the first page, which was a welcome and a reminder of uniform. After that we had our timetables, which was really just one day that would be repeated over and over again. The page after that was much more interesting – it was a map of the school. The largest block was the school, like I had guessed, and all the classrooms had been labelled. One of them was highlighted; 1B.

"Have you guys got classroom 1B highlighted?" I asked.

"Yeah!" they both chimed, "that must mean we're in the same class right?"

I smiled at them, and nodded, going back to looking at the pack. The map also showed a large shopping mall towards the eastern side of the campus, which had a small note attached. There was a small shuttle that ran every 5 minutes that would take us there, although it wasn't far to walk. Anything we bought would go onto your room tab, with the use of a small card that we were given which had our photo, name and room number. An identity card, if you like. We could visit the shops any time, but they did have opening and closing times.

This identity card was on the next page of the booklet, along with a key to our room and our room. It also said that later on we would get our all our books sent to our room. I rechecked the map again; it seemed that the laundry room was downstairs. I would just have to remember to take Miku down there with me someday.

The final part in my booklet was a small dry-wipe board. The other two didn't have this, but I immediately knew what it was for.

"I think we put this on the door to our room," I said, "so that people know who lives here. I guess that's what that funny looking thing on our door is – it just holds it up there."

"Awesome!" Nana said, and Uta smiled, "has anyone got any whiteboard pens?"

"I have," Uta replied, and she quickly dug through her belongings and produced a purple, a green and a dark yellow pen. "How about these?"

"Yeah!" Nana yelled, and quickly grabbed the green one. Uta passed me the dark yellow pen, and together we customised our board, writing our names and drawing cute pictures.

Yup, I bet you never knew I had a girly side, right?


	4. Not Very Neru

**Chapter Four**

**Not Very Neru**

After we'd hung up our whiteboard, we decided it was time to have a look around. I got my wallet out, slipping my key and my ID card inside and stuffing it in the pocket of my hoodie, and I looked over at the other two, who were waiting on me.

"Ready?" I asked, and saw that Nana had the map in her hand.

They both nodded and we headed out of the dorm, with me locking the door.

"Wait," I mumbled, turning to them, "where are we going to go?"

"Well, I think we should have a quick look around the dorms, you know, check out the living room and stuff. Then I think we ought to look at the gym, and the school, and finish up looking around the cafeteria and getting lunch. Afterward, we could always hit the shops?"

"That sounds like a great idea to me!" Nana said, and I nodded too with a smile.

_I'm being pretty friendly today. Good, at least I'll have some friends._

We went downstairs, and after a quick peek in the laundry room, which was a decent size, we had a look at the living room. There were a few nice big couches, and a good-sized TV, and I could see a couple of dance mats folded away underneath the TV and a well-used PS2. I guessed that somebody must have brought that along. The kitchen area was small, but had a cooker, microwave and a fridge, with a notice saying that every week we'd be brought the bare essentials, but it was up to us to buy anything else from the shops.

We left the dorms, and walked over to the gym, which would probably be my least favourite place. They had a normal gymnasium, with the floor marked for basketball, and a nice pool. There were also some inside tennis courts, and the obligatory changing rooms and showers. We had a quick trip around the school, finding our classroom and checking out the bathrooms. It was pretty much the same as a normal Japanese school; we had our normal classrooms, with single desks set out in rows, a few computer rooms, some small laboratories and art rooms, supply closets, a hall, theatre and a very large library. After we'd walked around the school, we headed over to the cafeteria, which had a few other students in. There was a pleasant inside eating area, a little separate from where all the food was.

We approached the food tables, and I glanced over it all. There were lots of different kinds of fish, a few meats, large crates of fruits vegetables, bowls of rice and noodles, tables of condiments, and some drinks machines and some of the chefs serving tea.

"Let's split up and get our food!" Nana said cheerily, "whoever finishes first can save our table!"

Uta and I nodded in agreement, and we separated as we looked around at all the different food. I picked up a tray and went to the first counter, looking over the fish and meats. I picked out a bowl, spooning some mackerel into it, before moving on to the next counter. After taking another bowl, I glanced over the vegetables. There was a very large choice, although not as large as the fish. I decided on some sweet potato and pickled vegetables, some chestnuts and a sudachi. I took a small bowl of rice, and after taking a moment to put some soy sauce over some of my food, I proceeded to the drinks machines and tea tables. There was a simply enormous choice of different drinks, and it didn't take me long to find my favourite – Mitsuya Cider. I eyed over all the different flavours, before glancing at the others. I sighed, instead going for Jurokucha. Mikuo had always served it up, as it was meant to be very healthy when eaten with meals. I guess old habits don't die out too easily.

It seemed that I had been the last out, as carrying my small tray I saw Uta and Nana beckoning me over to their small table. I wandered over, occasionally glancing at the other students, before taking a seat at the table. I glanced at their lunches, which were similar to mine but with slightly different meats or vegetables.

"Ooh!" Nana squealed, "you got mackerel, Neru-chan! I was going to get that, but ended up with salmon instead," she gestured towards her bowl."

I stifled a yawn as I started to dig in to my rice. God, I love food so much. I nodded in acknowledgement, and Uta spoke up. "They have such a wide selection, its great don't you think?"

"Yeah," I replied, "and I'll bet there are plenty of cafés and things in the little town."

Nana looked up, "oh! We need to get our books, remember? They're getting dropped off at our room, right?"

I drank some tea and munched some potato, before saying, "well if we aren't there, nobody's going to steal them are they?"

Uta smiled cutely, "of course not. I guess we shouldn't get back to late though, just in case. Also, I heard you have cousins here, Neru-chan?"

I almost choked on my potato. Damn, people already knew I'm related to Miku? "Yeah," I mumbled, "Hatsune Miku and Juon Kiku are my cousins."

Uta gave a big grin, "I did speak to Hatsune-san briefly, and she seems nice. She's very outgoing, isn't she?" Uta chuckled.

"Unfortunately," I replied, my eyes automatically narrowing. Why does everyone love Miku and her weird and irritating personality?

Uta laughed again, "you two really are different. Do you have any relatives, Nana-chan?"

"Mmm!" Nana hummed, her mouth full. She swallowed, "I have a pair of elder twin sisters, both called Coco, and a little sister called Nana Petit. My family are kinda strange," she blushed. "How about you, Uta-chan?"

"Oh! I have an older brother, Defosuke-kun, and a younger sister called Koe," Uta giggled.

"Do you guys know anybody else here?" I asked, eating my chestnuts carefully. Mmm. Did I already say that I love food?

Nana shook her head, but Uta spoke up, "yeah! I know two girls here already, since they went to my previous school; Kasane Teto and Momone Momo. They aren't in our class though," Uta looked disappointed.

"Mm? Did they already tell you which class they're in?" Nana asked.

Uta nodded, and the pair continued to speak. _Hey, I don't even know which classes Miku, Kiku and Haku are in yet. I ought to text them and ask…_ I thought to myself. I reached into the pocket of my hoodie to grab my phone – but it was empty. My eyes automatically widened and I could feel myself begin to panic. _What? Where is it? I can't have dropped it, I'd have noticed…_

And then I remembered. I'd left it on my bed for some reason whilst I was packing. That's not like me at all.

Why is this school suddenly changing me?


	5. Ritsu and Tei!

**Chapter Five**

**Ritsu and Tei!**

I trudged out of the cafeteria, Uta and Nana laughing about something in front of me.

_So tired… I just wanna sleep forever._

"Hey, Neru-chan, are you okay?" Nana giggled, turning around and looking at me.

"Feeling… so… tired…" I grumbled, my head down and my eyes pretty much closed.

Nana laughed at me and I looked up at her and Uta, the pair of them both staring and giggling.

"You're still up for going around town, right?" Uta asked, with a small laugh.

I grunted, "I guess. I'm only going because it's something to do."

The pair led me over to a simple plastic shelter, which I guessed was the bus stop. I took a seat, barely noticing that I had just plonked myself down in between two people that I didn't actually know. I heard Nana and Uta still laughing, so I looked up, only to find the strangers staring at me.

"Uhh… hello?" I said, frowning.

They were both girls, although one was a very strange girl. The one to the left of me had long lilac-gray hair tied up in two loose buns on her heads, and very strange deep red eyes. She was very unnerving, and what was more unnerving was that one of her hands seemed to be hiding under the skirt she was wearing. I turned my attention quickly to the weirder girl, who had extremely long bright orange hair, with a cute Lolita-style hat perched on her head, and bright green eyes that stared at me curiously. She was dressed very dramatically, and I could see she liked Lolita.

"Well hey there," the Lolita girl purred, and I noticed her voice was a bit strange. It was quite low, but still feminine, and very soft and breathy.

"Hi~" the upskirt girl replied, and I looked at her.

"So uh, why were you staring at me?"

"For starters, you sat down and interrupted our conversation," upskirt girl chuckled, and glanced at Lolita girl.

"Also, you're pretty tiny. You sure you're old enough to be here?" the Lolita girl laughed.

I felt myself puffing up angrily, "yes, I am sure. I'll bet I'm older than you, little squirt."

Lolita girl looked wounded, "I'm sorry, I was just kidding. Anyway… what's your name? Are you new here?"

I sighed, "yeah, I'm new. I'm Akita Neru, but just call me Neru. How about you two?"

The upskirt girl was first to speak, "You can call me Tei, but my full name is Sukone Tei. This is Namine Ritsu, or just Ritsu for short. We both just joined too."

I looked up to see Uta and Nana cautiously coming over. They introduced themselves shyly, and before an awkward silence could settle, the bus arrived. It was basically just a decorated coach, but the seats were different. They were split up into fours and sixes, with equal amounts of seats facing us and a small table. The five of us got up and boarded the train, when Ritsu turned around.

"Shall we?" she smirked, gesturing to a table of six. I glanced at the others, who both being very naïve and always happy to meet others, happily agreed. I shrugged and sat down in the seat by the aisle, whilst Ritsu and Tei sat opposite.

"So," Tei said, leaning in and blocking Ritsu out slightly, grinning at us, "have you seen any cute boys around yet?"

I rolled my eyes a little, but she didn't notice. Nana on the other hand looked very excited and leant forward, "oh my gosh, yes! I got here really early, so I just looked and watched the other people on our floor moving in, and I saw a real cutie! He had this messy dark gray hair and this really cute light red eyes! He was just so adorable!"

_Hang on… that sounds just like Dell, Haku's half-brother! She didn't tell me that he was going here too, or maybe she didn't even know!_

"Oh! I saw a really cute guy who sounds pretty similar to yours!" Uta suddenly said, "but he had this sweet, slightly messy red hair. He was really hot!"

"And I saw this guy with yellow hair, in this adorable little ponytail, and big blue eyes!" Tei chipped in, and they began to babble on about boys.

I said and glanced over at Ritsu, who was looking at me with that funny little smirk, "not interested, Akita-san?"

"Not at all," I replied, a little bemused, "how about you?"

"Oh no," she answered, suddenly more amused than before, "I don't go that way, dear."

I was a little bit confused at that, but decided to just ignore it. I listened a little at Tei's boy-orientated conversation, whilst staring out the window. I knew that Ritsu was still staring at me, but decided to ignore it. I could just feel myself beginning to fall asleep, when the bus jerked to a stop.

"Hey, Akita-san, wake up," I heard Ritsu's soft voice, and a hand softly slap my cheek. I woke right up, and scowled at Ritsu, who was still smirking. Nana pushed me, and I got up and made my way off the bus.


	6. Seitomachi

**Chapter Six**

**Seitomachi**

I gazed around us at the small town. There was a large signpost with a map; _Seitomachi. _There was a long street, with cafés and restaurants filling both sides, a few students sitting outside. Trees of various kinds lined the street, and at the end I could see a large plaza with a few more cafés and a large fountain. I guessed there were more streets with more shops off of the plaza.

"Well, we're going to go," Tei said, pulling Ritsu aside, and smiling at us, "good luck boy-hunting," she winked at Nana and Uta, and nodded at me a little sincerely. Ritsu smirked at me {again}, and I rolled my eyes. We said our goodbyes, and the three of us turned away from them to discuss where we should go.

"Let's look at the map," Uta suggested, wandering over to it. Nana and I followed, and we gazed at it. There were four main streets, each with a different kind of theme. Where we were currently was food, to the west were school supplies and books, to the east were clothes and to the north were cosmetics.

"Where do you wanna go first?" Nana said, bouncing excitedly.

I shrugged and glanced at Uta, "let's just work our way around," she said, "so let's hit the bookstores and stuff first right?"

We all nodded, and walked down the street. I gazed around at all the food shops, and I suddenly just wanted to stay there. There were lots of bakeries, with that lovely aroma of baked breads making my stomach rumble. There were some cute little cafés with cakes in the window, and some of the more commercial food chains like McDonalds were also there, as well as some nicer restaurants. Mmm… food.

Nana pulled me aside as I almost walked off in the wrong direction, still staring at the food shops. I looked at the fountain briefly, which was very pretty, before turning my attention to the street of books and stationary.

"Where do you wanna go?" I asked them, looking around at the shops.

"I've got an idea!" Nana said suddenly, very excited. "Why don't we all buy a diary?"

Uta giggled, "I think that'd be funny. What do you think Neru-chan?"

I sighed. It was the worst idea I'd ever heard in my life, but I guess it could be funny. "I guess that'd be cool. Which shop should we go in?"

"How about this one?" Nana chirped, tugging us into an extremely girly bookshop.

I stared around. The shelves were lined with books on boys, clothes, and shopping. There were entire racks purely devoted to fashion magazines. I had to hold back a shudder. This definitely was not the shop for me.

"Hey, Nana-chan, Neru-chan, look over here!"

I turned to see Uta crouched over an enormous rail of diaries; the majority of which were pink, sparkly, fluffy, or covered in other atrocious materials. I couldn't hide my shudder this time, and I shook violently. Uta noticed, and smiled at me, whilst Nana just didn't notice and continued spazzing over the apparently cute diaries.

"There are some simpler ones here, Neru-chan," she smiled, gesturing towards a smaller bookcase stacked with what I thought were books, but the small label read journals.

I started pulling them out, and noticed they were all of a similar style; made like a book, with a drawing of something on the front and some words to go with them, and came in a few colour schemes. I rifled through them until I found the perfect one – it was chibi-style, with two crossed katanas and a cell phone in the middle, and was a yellow and black colour scheme. Perfect for me! I quickly picked it out and turned to the other two, who whilst I had been drooling over the journal had chosen theirs too. Uta's had a metallic cover, with a rocket-propelled grenade and 'bang!' written on it several times, and was themed purple and black. Nana's, unlike ours, was very… bold. It had a fuzzy green cover, with several bright green apples plastered across the front, and a black and a white ribbon tie to keep it closed.

"What?" Nana chirped, when she saw the horrified look on my face.

"Nothing," I replied, hastily looking away, "let's just pay up and leave, okay?"

We quickly paid for our journals, using our ID cards, and left the shop. We finished looking around the street, and then decided to move into the northern street of cosmetics. I could see some of the more popular make-up and accessory shops. Ugh. This really was not my kind of place.

"Oh!" Uta said, "let's go in here!"

She pulled me and Nana into one of the accessory shops; _Ribonai_. I watched as her and Nana browsed through the various berets, and I sighed and decided to look through the racks too. I suddenly decided there and then that I should buy Miku, Kiku and Haku some presents. I immediately spotted a Scrummyland twist pop necklace, in a pinkish colour, yellow and green, which I decided would be perfect for Miku. I picked out some cute rose-pink bobby pins for Kiku, which would match her hair nicely. My last problem was Haku, but I resolved that by picking her out a Skelanimals messenger bag. I sighed and rummaged around for myself, picking up a pack of multicolour bow hairbands, and a beaded snake bracelet. I paid for it all, whilst Uta and Nana both bought berets {they really are strange}.

We finished looking up and down the street, before progressing towards the final part of the town. It was then that we noticed each street had a name; the street full of food was called '_Shokuhin'_, the street of academics was '_Hongakkou'_, the street of make-up and accessories '_Keshou-hin'_ and the final street full of clothes '_Sutetchi_'. We headed onto _Sutetchi_ and had a look around the clothes shop. They had a shop that stocked our uniform, which I guessed would be useful, and several other popular fashion shops. We looked in the windows, unwilling to spend more money just yet, before wandering back to _Shokuhin_.


	7. Naminesan's Confession

**Chapter Seven**

**Namine-san's Confession**

"What time is it?"

Uta checked her phone, "well, it's almost half six. Should we get dinner here, do you think?"

"Yesplease!" I almost yelled, looking around at the numerous Western food shops in _Shokuhin_, immediately wandering over to a McDonalds.

Nana laughed, "oh Neru-chan! You really love food, don't you?"

"You bet," I said, beckoning them over and wandering inside.

After ordering and getting our food, we settled down at a table. I'd gone for a MegaMac burger with a large portion of chips, whilst Nana decided on a Shrimp Fillet-o and Uta on a Teriyaki burger. They stared at me in surprise as I hungrily devoured the burger.

"What?" I asked, not even bothering to swallow.

Uta looked a bit distressed when she saw the mush in my mouth, "nothing, Neru-chan. Anyway, I had quite a good idea just now. I think we should meet each other's mutual friends. You know, like I'll introduce you two to Teto-chan. What do you guys think?"

Nana looked very happy with this, "yes! I think that's a great idea, since I don't know anyone except for you guys. Neru-chan?"

"I guess that'd be an okay idea," I responded, still shovelling the burger in as fast as I could, "plus, we should try and find out who else is in our class."

"Good thinking, Neru-chan," Uta said, snapping her fingers at me in approval. I continued eating, whilst Nana chattered away about random things.

"And what about that girl, Namine-san, she seemed to like Neru-chan quite a lot," Nana teased, poking me in the arm with a chip.

I started, almost choking on the part of my burger that I was eating, "wh-ooh?"

"Oh come on," Nana giggled, "Namine-san was looking at Neru-chan for the entire bus journey."

I swallowed my mouthful quickly to respond, "Namine-san was just bored, is all. And besides, she's a girl."

"Well, she's a pretty manly girl," Uta said, giggling slightly, "so you're fine there."

I resisted the urge to smack Uta's burger into her face, whilst Nana roared with laughter, "cut it out. We don't know each other, and Namine-san was probably just… curious about my face."

Nana laughed even harder, and I frowned as Uta had to try and keep herself quiet, "come on," she giggled, "we'll prove to you that Namine-san is definitely interested."

"You can try all you like," I said, finishing up my burger, "but you aren't going to succeed."

We got up, having finished our meal, and left McDonalds, and walked back to the bus stop. Uta and Nana immediately began giggling, and I sighed as I saw Tei and Ritsu standing there. We wandered over, Uta and Nana gravitating towards Tei, whilst I was left to talk with Ritsu.

"Hello again, Akita-san," she said in that funny soothing voice of hers, bowing her head slightly.

"Namine-san," I said, "hey."

I felt a little uncomfortable and awkward, but Ritsu seemed fine and took it upon herself to improve our conversation, "did you have fun in Seitomachi?"

"Yes," I replied simply, "we had a good look at everything, and bought some stuff," I lifted the few bags I had. "How about you?"

"We did have a look around," Ritsu chuckled, "but we didn't buy anything. We actually spent a lot of money purely on tea."

I smiled, "well we had dinner already, since we thought we'd try out the food. By the way, what room are you in?"

"Want to come to my room, eh?" Ritsu smirked, "Well, I'm in K6. How about you?"

_K6… why does that sound wrong?_ "Oh, well, we're in K2. Is Tei one of your room-mates?"

Ritsu laughed loudly, "oh Akita-san, you are silly. If you don't mind, I'll explain to you another day."

I was a bit confused, but decided to leave it, as just at that moment the bus had arrived. Tei, Nana and Uta boarded first. I followed Ritsu onto the bus, but as I was about to take a seat next to Nana, I felt Ritsu grab my arm. She gave me a meaningful look, and I sighed and followed her to the back of the bus.

"What is it?" I hissed, and Ritsu continued to smirk. I could hear the others giggling at the front of the bus.

"Thought you were curious about my room-mates," Ritsu replied, "I can tell you know that something's up."

"So is something really up?" I said, "what is it?"

"You want to know my room-mates, right?" Ritsu purred.

"Yeah, I guess?" I said, a bit confused. Was it really that mysterious?

"My room-mates are Kagamine Len, Kamui Gakupo and Utatane Piko. Len-kun is the one that Tei was talking about on the way here, with yellow hair."

"Wait… how come your room-mates are guys?" I asked, now even more confused.

Ritsu laughed, "oh Akita-san, you really are silly. I _am_ a guy."

I simply stared. How is that even possible? She – I mean _he_ – was so girly! Ritsu looked at my confused face, and decided to explain.

"I like to crossdress," Ritsu smirked, "it's not really a secret but I wasn't sure how you'd react. Akita-san is very serious," he laughed.

"So… your room-mates know?" I said uncertainly, "they aren't freaked out at all?"

"Yep. They're perfectly fine with it."

Wow. I never would have guessed if he hadn't told me. He makes a really good girl, actually. The bus ground to a halt, and after a little push from Ritsu, we got off. Nana, Uta and Tei were waiting for us off the bus, and I could tell from their faces they thought that Ritsu and I had been up to something. I sighed.

"Should we all walk back to the dorms together?" Nana said slyly, giving the other two a funny look.

"That'd be a great idea," Tei said smoothly, "after all, we're all going to the same place, right?"

"Mm!" Uta agreed.

"I think that'd be lovely," Ritsu purred, and I could see him glance at me. Geez, what was this guy's problem?


	8. Meikosan and Megumichan

**Chapter Eight**

**Meiko-san and Megumi-chan**

We began to wander back to the dorms, with Ritsu always sticking by my side. The others walked a little bit in front of us, somehow still talking about boys. Isn't there only so much you can say about them?

"So," Ritsu said, and I glanced over. He was staring up at the sky, which was dark now and beginning to get starry, "which class are you in, Akita-san?"

"1B," I replied, "how about you and Tei?"

"Wonderful," Ritsu chuckled, "Tei and I are both in your class. Are Macne-san and Utane-san in our class too?"

"Yeah," I said, "and cool. Are any of yours or Tei's room-mates in our class?"

Ritsu thought for a moment, "one of my room-mates, Gakupo-kun, and one of Tei's, Gumi-chan, are in our class. It'll be fun, I'm sure."

I sighed, "I wonder who else we have? And what the teachers are like?"

"Well, we'll find out tomorrow," Ritsu chuckled, "are you nervous, Akita-san?"

"Of course not," I replied, tossing my hair over my shoulder and frowning. Stupid Ritsu.

"Hey!" Tei suddenly yelled out from in front of us, "we're here guys!"

I looked up quickly to see the dorms nicely lit in front of us. The five of us went inside and upstairs, where we split to go to our separate rooms. I bade farewell to Tei and Ritsu, before going inside my room with Nana and Uta.

"What a day," I said, falling onto my bed, "I'm so tired."

"I'll bet it was all that fun you were having with Namine-san that tired you out," Nana giggled.

"Eh? Shut up!" I growled, "did you guys know that Ritsu-kun isn't a girl?"

Uta smiled, "yes. Tei-chan told us when you were at the back with Namine-san. He wanted to tell you himself, personally. I guess he sure does like you then, huh?"

I tried to stop myself from blushing, and instead replied angrily, "will you quit it? Ritsu-kun is a friend, and that only. The fact he crossdresses is reason enough to not have feelings like that about him."

"Harsh!" Nana said, "but since when do you call him Ritsu-kun?"

I fell silent, picking up my phone and texting Miku and Haku, since I knew Kiku was sharing with Miku. I got an instant reply from Miku, telling me to come to her room and meet her room-mate. She also said that Kiku seemed to be very happy, but not to mention it to her. I smiled and got up, ready to go.

"Where are you going?" Nana asked, glancing up from a magazine she had conjured up somehow.

"Oh, just to see my cousins," I replied, "do you guys want to come?"

"Yeah!" Nana squealed, and Uta nodded and got up. The three of us left the room, and headed over to Miku's. Their whiteboard was stuck on their door, with Miku's name taking up half of it, Kiku's name decorated intricately and another name; 'Meiko', in more traditional writing. I knocked, and it was immediately answered by Miku, who leapt on me.

"Neru!" she squealed, "I missed you so much!"

"It's hardly been half a day," I managed to say, Miku practically covering me as I was much shorter than her.

She drew back and looked at Uta and Nana, blushing a little. "Oh! You brought your room-mates?" I nodded. "Hi! I'm Hatsune Miku! I met you earlier… Utane-san?" she said, and Uta smiled and nodded.

"I'm Macne Nana," Nana said proudly, "but you can call me Nana."

Miku nodded and smiled happily, before inviting us inside. Their room was similar to ours, and I saw Kiku sitting on the bed next to a girl with short brown hair and the biggest pair of boobs I've ever seen. Curse her.

She stood up and walked over, smiling, "you must be Akita-san. I've heard about you already," she chuckled. "I'm Sakine Meiko, but you can just call me Meiko."

I smiled, "nice to meet you, Meiko-chan. You can call me Neru."

Miku was bouncing happily, whilst Nana, Uta and Meiko all became acquainted. "Isn't this place ama~zing!" she sang, "I can't wait for us all to be in class together!"

"What class are you guys in?" I asked. Miku was either extremely dim or didn't know that there were two separate classes.

"Well, Meiko and I are in 1A, but Kiku's in 1B," Miku said, a little sad, "how about you guys?"

"We're all in 1B," I chuckled, "sorry Miku."

"Da~mn!" Miku yelled, surprising us all, "oh well. At least Kiku has some friends in her class!"

Kiku smiled at me, and I smiled back. "Oh!" I said suddenly, "I went to town, and got you two some presents."

I dug through my bag, pulling out their gifts. I handed Miku the necklace, and gave Kiku the bobby pins. They both thanked me greatly in their very different ways; Miku leapt on me and squeezed me whilst screaming her gratitude in my ear, whilst Kiku gave me a much more gentler hug and a softer thanks. After a little while of talking, Uta, Nana and I left the dorm, and decided to head over to see Haku.

Haku's room was right next to ours, and since she hadn't replied, I decided to just knock and see if she was in. To my surprise, Tei answered the door.

"Hey guys," she said with a smile, "need something?"

"I came to see Haku-chan," I told her, "Nana-chan and Uta-chan came too."

"Ahh, okay," Tei said, opening the door wider, "come inside."

Their room was much more decorated than ours, although most of it came from what I gathered was Tei's corner. Photos of boys practically covered the walls, and there was stuff everywhere. Haku appeared and smiled softly, and as I glanced I saw a girl standing, acknowledging us, with her short green hair bouncing as she looked at us all in turn.

"Hey Haku," I said, hugging her, "I didn't know you and Tei-chan were roomies."

"Yup," she smiled, "she told me that she met you earlier today."

I glanced at the girl with green hair, who stepped forward, smiling. I guessed she was the girl Ritsu had told me about. "I'm Megumi!" she said cutely, "but just call me Gumi. Tei and I are in the same class as you."

I sighed. That meant that Haku wasn't in our class. "Nice to meet you, Gumi-chan. I'm Akita Neru, but Neru is fine. Anyway, Haku, I just came to see if you were okay, and I bought you something."

I handed her the messenger bag, and she thanked me in a similar way to Kiku. After a few more minutes of casual chatter, we left and went back to our room, only to find three stacks of books outside.

"Oh my," Nana said, her eyes wide, "look at all of this!"

"I guess a stack each," I shrugged, and saw others coming outside to claim their books too. "Let's get it all inside, eh?"

We each hauled our stack into the room, and unbound them, having a look. In total, we had been given twenty-one books. We had a textbook, workbook and exercise book for each subject, excluding physical education. There was also a note attached to the stack, telling us that we would need only our exercise books tomorrow. I looked up at the others, who were putting their books away. I sighed and copied them, storing them underneath my bed in neat piles of 3. When I was finished, I saw that Uta had been pinning things up on our board, and was inspecting it.

"We need to be at assembly at quarter past eight tomorrow," she said, "anyway, who wants to bath first?"

"I will," Uta piped up, "I don't take very long, and I'd like to get an early night."

"Okay," Nana smiled, and we went to our beds and settled down whilst Uta gathered her things and went into the bathroom. I laid there, tired after a long day, my eyes closing a little. I was just beginning to settle down when Nana interrupted my falling asleep.

"How are you feeling about tomorrow, Neru-chan?" she asked.

My eyes opened slowly, and I could feel my usual grumpiness beginning to settle in. I tried not to show it though, "a little bit nervous I guess. But I'm pretty curious as to what it's like."

"Me too," Nana said, "I heard they put all the newcomers in the same class, despite their age."

"Really?" I said, and then it suddenly occurred to me that Kiku was younger than me and yet she was in my class, "that makes a bit of sense, I guess. Nana-chan, how old are you?"

"I'm sixteen," she said, "how old are you Neru-chan?"

"Seventeen," I replied, and she laughed. "What?"

"You're so tiny for a seventeen year old!" she giggled.

"Hey!"

I glanced up as Uta emerged from the bathroom in a set of cute pyjamas, and I got up. "You don't mind if I go before you, Nana-chan?" I asked, and she shook her head and smiled.

I quickly collected my things and went into the bathroom. As is typical of most Japanese bathrooms, we have a bath full of water and a small showerhead with some washbowls. I rinsed myself, including my hair, and soaked in the bath briefly. I didn't feel all that comfortable with bathing somewhere that I wasn't used to. I stepped out of the tub and after cleaning myself and my hair and rinsing out all the soap and shampoo, had another brief soak, before getting out, drying off and dressing in my simple pyjamas. I collected my things and left the bathroom, and Nana went in. I noticed that Uta was tucked up cutely in bed, and I smiled, giving her a soft goodnight and heading towards my own bed.


End file.
